Just a mom putting my random thoughts down "on paper" before I forget! Lots about the kids and lots about books and that about sums up my life.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Knitting Under the Influence by Claire Lazebnik

From the back cover: Sometimes it feels like their weekly knitting circle is the only thing that keeps Kathleen, Sari, and Lucy from falling apart. Their fine-gauge scarves may look fabulous, but their lives are starting to unravel.

She who always finishes a book, no matter what, (see post about Gravediggers Daughter or Weight of Water) didn’t really finish this one. I just skimmed it. 40 pages in I knew it was awful but there I was in the doctor's office with nothing else to read so I continued. I just could not care about these characters. I can enjoy frivolous, shallow people - I've watched every episode of Sex in the City, I've read all of Sophie Kinsella - emotional depth is not a requirement in my world. But these girls were bad. They were so one dimensional that they never felt remotely real - I could not have cared less about them or their problems. So I skipped huge chunks of text and just skimmed to find the few parts of the plot that I actually had any curiosity about in order to get to the resolution. The storyline about the child and adult with autism were somewhat interesting, I work with children with autism too. I am not a miracle worker like Sari (because I am real) but that part still piqued my curiosity. And then the laboratory scenes. The lab rat, David, was of some interest as well - I've always had a soft spot for nerdy guys.

Waking up at five o'clock in the morning on Christmas Eve with a throat so sore you feel like every swallow contains shards of broken glass…no fun. Sitting in the hospital waiting for the strep culture results when I should be wrapping and shopping and cooking…no fun. Perhaps all that misery colored my perception of the book. Maybe it's not really that bad. But, with probably 30+ books in my TBR pile, I am NOT going to reread it to find out. I dropped it in the give away pile as I left the hospital.

Best part of this book - a "send off" at the end with drink recipes. I was tempted to rip those pages out before I dropped the book off. The recipe for "The Cozy Brown Afghan" 1 oz coffee liqueur, 1/2 oz chocolate liqueur, 1/2 oz Irish Cream liqueur, and a chocolate covered cinnamon reception stick sounded like just the thing I needed for my sore throat! But I decided instead to stick with amoxicillin and save the liqueur for later. Here's to later - cheers!

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About Me

I am a middle aged mother of three. I have a government job and a steadily employed husband. I used to say, "Our lives don't have much drama... and we like it that way!" Now, I must report that it's been a little interesting around here but we're still good! I can be reached at theroundfile(at)live(dot)com.